MGCOOL Band 2 Heart Rate Monitor Smart Wristband reviewed

By @SimonCocking. We have been trialing this device from MGCool, or rather we hooked it up to our nearest and dearest and studied how they got on with using it. Available currently for $19.90.

Firstly the app that you need to run it on your phone downloads easily and it pretty straight forward to navigate once you have it. It does ask for access to a lot of your phone, and you may decide to review how much of that you possibly unclick after a while of using it. The graphics of the various data sets look good. The nightly sleep patterns are interesting, with a break down of your deep and light sleep. It seems unfortunate that it only stores most previous night’s sleep report though, as it would seem to be of more value to compare a week or month’s worth of data on that rather than only having your last night to look at. On the other hand it does store the data for the other functions, so this seems like something that could be remedied, and perhaps it will be in one of the updates.

The design is good, sleek, fits well, and is unobtrusive and not clunky. The battery charged quickly and lasted for several days or more without needing a re-charge which was good. There are a lot of options for the device, alarm, all sorts of options. It takes your heart beat reading, which is good, but no matter how closely you hold it to the phone it seems over sensitive and often disconnects, so this is something that was a little more fiddly than you would like it.

With all devices like this the challenge will be to see if you keep wearing it for a prolonged period of time, and then if it inspires you to maintain a healthy lifestyle. For a first dip into the water this is a fun, affordable device to get started with.

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